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Matthew 2:15 as taken from the KJV New Testament:
And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Next comes the rendering as taken from the Hebrew Masoretic text:
[Hosea 11:1 "When Israel was a child then, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called to my son. ]
The passage from Hosea refers so obviously to the Exodus from Egypt that very few Christians quote it today. E. W. Hengstenberg, whose book, The Christology of the Old Testament, goes into great detail about passages from the Hebrew Scriptures which are purported to be Christological, is so embarrassed by Matthew's obvious misunderstanding of the Scriptures that he doesn't even mention Hosea 11:1. Amazingly, however, some Christians (even some pastors and Messianic rabbis) still quote it. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew, if a Jew, really ought to have known better than to have an angel tell Joseph to take the Messiah and his mother out of the Promised Land and into Egypt for fear of King Herod. One does not have to read very far into the Bible to see that G-d does not look kindly on those who seek to return to Egypt for fear of the inhabitants of the Promised Land (see, for instance, Numbers 14). G-d was adamant that we were never to return to Egypt: "But he [the king whom we would set over ourselves] shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the L-rd hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way" (Deuteronomy 17:16). When the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, Jeremiah warned the remnant of Judah against returning to Egypt: "For thus saith the L-rd of hosts, the G-d of Israel; as mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more".
Answer for yourself: What happened during Jesus's childhood that made G-d change His mind about Egypt? A further point regarding Matthew's narrative bears mentioning.
Look at what he does with Joseph's decision to take Jesus from Egypt to Nazareth: "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." The prophets, however, never even mentioned the city of Nazareth or Nazarenes. Matthew was either poorly educated or deliberately lying.
Let us now continues with what happened to this son (Israel)
[The more they (observant Jews) called them (non-observant Jews), the more they went from them. They (the non-observant Jews) sacrificed unto the Baalim, and offered to graven images. And I, I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.; I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I fed them gently. He (the Jew) shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return (to their ways). And the sword shall fall upon his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels.]
Hosea chapter 11 and 12 form a history that reveals the sins of the people as Hosea reviews the history of Israel and of Jacob. Israel took for granted their covenant relationship with the G-d, forgetting that He chose them (Deut. 7:6-11). In love He delivered a child from Egypt, carried him, fed him, and taught him to walk and work; and that child abandoned Him for idols. What ingratitude! They followed their own plans and gave no though to the will of G-d. The soil of their hearts was hard (10:12), but G-d's heart was tender toward them. He could not destroy them as He did the cities of the plain (Gen. 14:2,8). No, one day He will call for them with a lion's roar, and they will come with trembling hearts. Both Israel and Judah (the southern kingdom) are included in this message. This is the context of the passage quoted from the Jewish Bible by the writer of the Gospel of Matthew.
For some reason, there is this need by Christians to find "My Son" and automatically attribute it to Jesus, even though we have instances where Yakov and Dovid HaMelech, and the people of Yisrael were called "My Son". Yes, the corporate people of Yisrael are referenced here in the Hosea passage that is quoted by the writer of the Gospel of Matthew, as they are in other places, as a single unit, as a child of HaShem. Here we read that the children (son) of Yisrael exited Egypt and as time passed, many went on to worship idols. But the writes of the Gospel of Matthew does not evidently know the passage well enough because instead of a corporate understanding the turns into a "singular" prophecy about Yeshua in order to create a fulfillment since possibly he and his parents had traveled to Egypt when a child.
This is not a Messianic prophecy.
The irony is that is speaks of Jews going to worship idols, and Christians use this same verse to cause Jews to do the same thing by converting them to their paganized form of Messianic Judaism! So sad. This is the high price of Biblical ignorance.
[Shemos (Exodus) 4:18 - Then say to Pharaoh, This is what HaShem says: Yisrael is my firstborn son."
In fact, we might even say that, based on the way that the Christian bible is using the text ("Out of Egypt I called my son"), that it could even be referring to Hitler who lost the battles of northern Africa and had called his forces back to Germany!
This is yet another instance of a non-existent prophesy that Jesus was supposed to have fulfilled, but in reality was simply another out-of-context phrase that is being used to attribute a special relationship between Jesus and G-d.
It is important to remember that a "Son of G-d" is not a Jewish idea. it is a GENTILE idea connected more with Greek and pagan concepts that find their roots in sun-worship. Nowhere in the Tanakh will you find the term bnei HaShem. You will only find G-d calling the Jews "son", the Jews calling themselves "your son", and the Jews calling G-d "father". The word Elokim also is translated as "G-d", but can also mean "false g-ds" and "important men". The Sanhedrin were called Elokim. Because of this, we often have bad translations, such as "You are g-ds" and "The sons of g-ds came forth and..."
But despite this, whenever you will find "son" in the Tanakh, you can most likely count on a Christian pulling it out of context in order to prove that G-d spoke of his offspring in a way that Jesus represented it. This is also probably why the Jews fast on the month of tevet, to remember the great tragedy of translating Torah into Greek.
Again, this verse is about how the Jews fell away from their destined path, refused to proclaim their spiritual heritage, and because the ended up worshipping other deities, they will suffer tremendously.
How ironic that Christians use this same verse to cause Jews to worship Christian deities and suffer even more so.
Bennoah1@verizon.net